Exultant Tops Final Group 1 of Hong Kong Season

The final group 1 race of the Hong Kong season will be contested among locals and that's just fine and dandy with the trainer of reigning Horse of the Year Exultant, who returns to his specialty distance after a refreshing break.

The May 23 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup (G1) is contested at 2,400 meters or about 1 1/2 miles. This year, thanks to pandemic restrictions, it's an intramural affair with eight Hong Kong-based horses set to go on the Sha Tin Racecourse grass.

Exultant, a 7-year-old Teofilo  gelding, jumped up to win the 2018 Longines Hong Kong Vase (G1), the early-season bookend race to this one, defeating 13 rivals—11 of them from overseas. Zac Purton rode Exultant for the first time in that race and trainer Tony Cruz has stuck with the Aussie rider ever since.

Exultant went on to cap the 2018-19 season with a win in the Champions & Chater Cup, cementing his position as the top local stayer and among the world's elite in that category. He finished third in the 2019 Longines Vase, behind Japanese raiders Glory Vase and Lucky Lilac but posted a repeat win in the Champions & Chater Cup a year ago.

He is winless this season, finishing second in the December race, won in smashing fashion by Coolmore's Mogul , but Cruz said the gelding is back from some five weeks' R&R at the lush Conghua Racecourse on the Mainland and is capable of another win.

"I believe so," Cruz said. "There's no foreign horses around this year. That's a big help."

Exultant also benefits from the decision by trainer Francis Lui not to enter Golden Sixty, the current Hong Kong "star in residence."

"Obviously, he would have been the main opposition, so I'm glad he made the decision not to run," Cruz said.

Cruz has two others in the race. Time Warp , an 8-year-old Archipenko  gelding, has served as a rabbit for Exultant in the latter's best efforts and likely will do so again. In the 2020 Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup (G1), Time Warp and jockey Joao Moreira kept going on the lead and Exultant came up three-quarters length short of catching them at 2,000 meters (about 1 1/4 miles).

Packing Waltham , a 4-year-old Wootton Bassett  gelding, completes the Cruz triumvirate and embodies the trainer's hopes for coming seasons. Also pointing to the future are 4-year-olds Russian Emperor , a lightly raced Galileo  colt still seeking his first Hong Kong win, and Panfield, a Lookin At Lucky colt with a stellar record in South America.

Glorious Dragon tackles the distance for the first time. Glorious Dragon won the Centenary Vase Handicap earlier in the season, defeating Exultant and others. That was at 1,800 meters (about 1 1/8 miles), far from Exultant's strength, but Lui said the added ground is no concern for him.

"I think he can handle the distance, no problem," Lui said of the striking gray. "I targeted this race for him. I think he'll love the distance. It's a big positive."

Some of the others have had their moments. Columbus County was third in the Longines Vase in December but has failed to build on that. Butterfield, a champion in his native land, exits a late-running win in the Queen Mother Memorial Cup (G3) May 2.